A Mess of Things
by foreversnevers
Summary: Jacob hates Edward and for more than just the fact that they're sworn enemies. I mean, they're kind of in love with the same girl, and Edward did kind of abandon the said girl and leave Jacob to pick up her shattered heart. So what happens when Jacob sees Edward for the first time and imprints? Begins at the end of New Moon. M/M
1. Chapter 1

Chapter one

Jacob's point of view

"You had no right to tell him!" Bella cried, angry tears shimmering in her eyes. "I thought you were my best friend!"

"I am!" I insisted, hoping my wild gestures would get my point across.

She closed her eyes, trying to compose herself, I was guessing. When she opened them again, her shoulders had stopped quivering, and her voice was softer. "Then why did you tell Charlie?"

I kind of wished she would react more, like scream at me, or throw a rock or something. Her, standing there, talking to me in a raspy, betrayed voice was _killing_ me.

"I was trying to keep you away from him," I hissed, shooting a dark glare in Edward's direction.

The leech wasn't looking at me. He was, instead, focusing solely on Bella. "Let it go," he urged her, "Charlie's really mad."

As if to prove his point, Bella's dad screamed, "Bella! You get in here this instant! I see his car and I _know _you're out there!"

We all flinched at the intensity of Charlie's scorn.

"No," Bella huffed, her shoulders shaking again like the weight of the world was resting on top of her. "I'm not going to go inside, get chewed out by Charlie, and then be told to forget that my alleged best friend snitched me out!"

"Alleged best friend?" I snorted, my brows raised. Bella's jab had been expected, but it still caused a flicker of pain to ignite inside of me. She always knew exactly the right way to hurt me.

"I think you're missing the point," she grumbled.

"Isabella Swan!" Charlie roared furiously.

We all heard Charlie—who couldn't?—but chose to ignore him.

"No," I growled, my eyes narrowed. I took note of how cruel my tone was, but pushed it aside for the time being. Late at night when I was in bed was the time to feel remorseful. "_You're_ missing the point. Edward is a monster and I don't want you—"

"He's not a monster!" Bella interrupted me with a dangerous gleam in her eyes. It was the same gleam she had in her eyes when she told me she was going to Italy with Alice.

"Bella," Edward muttered, his pale hands caressing her shoulder. "Please—"

"Get your hands off of her!" I ordered viciously. I was trying very hard not to phase and rip the hideous bloodsucker to shreds. I knew if I did Bella would only hate me, and I didn't want to take the risk of phasing and being too close to Bella.

Edward, probably hearing my threatening thoughts, took his hands off of the girl I loved, which only seemed to make Bella angrier.

"Don't tell Edward what to—"

"Get in here _now_!" Charlie yelled so loudly that my ear drums vibrated slightly.

"Let's go, Bella," Edward pleaded, tugging lightly on Bella's waist.

"No!" she sniffed, leaping out of his arms. She approached me with a gigantic frown and said, "You're not my best friend anymore!"

I think my heart stopped beating. "Bella…"

Even Edward didn't seem to approve of this decision. "Don't be rash," he said, "you're mad now, sure, but you'll regret this later."

Bella's hands trembled as she backed away from me, returning to Edward. "Yeah," she murmured sadly. Once she reached the leech's side his arms immediately went around her shoulders, and Bella turned slightly to face me. "I just want you two to get along."

I looked at Edward doubtfully. I guess, theoretically, it would be nice to get along with him. Bella wouldn't be pissed at me so much.

Edward looked up and our eyes connected. He said something. Something about how he was happy that I had taken care of Bella. Something about how he was thankful—no, grateful, I think it was—about what I had done. But I didn't really hear him. I was too busy looking in his eyes.

In that millisecond that our eyes connected, he had unknowingly become my everything. He had become what I breathed for, what I would willingly die for. He was my sole existence.

I noticed suddenly a bazillion different things about him, like how his hair was parted to the side and how it—the hair—was red but could be easily mistaken for brown by a human.

He was tall. Not as tall as me, but tall.

His eyes weren't a feverish yellow like my dad and grandfather had once told me they were. Edward's eyes were, instead, golden. A beautiful, gorgeous, radiant gold.

Edward. I loved his name. I loved it so much. It was long, but not too long and short, but not too short. It was fancy. Eloquent.

He was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my entire existence. I couldn't find anything to compare him to. There was no model, no movie star, no singer covered in pounds of makeup that could ever come close to his perfection.

In that millisecond it took for our eyes to connect, I realized Edward was my angel. My beautiful angel.

I fell in love with him instantly. Everything about him I loved. I knew I would stand by him forever, no matter the costs. I didn't know him at all, but I knew once I did get to know him I would love him even more, if possible.

I knew what I had just done—imprinted on Edward. I had experienced it so many times through Jared and Sam's eyes that I'd recognize the intense, instantaneous devotion from anywhere.

Edward's eyebrow's suddenly furrowed as if he was confused by something. It was then I remembered Edward could read thoughts.

How could I forget? Damn it. He was probably so confused…

Bella was looking at me strangely. "Jacob?" she said. "Are you okay?"

I reluctantly looked away from Edward's gorgeous face and focused on her. "Yeah," I replied. "I'm…" I tried to think of the right word to describe the bliss I was in. I settled for, "perfect. I'm so great, Bells."

"Really?" her brows raised.

I nodded, feeling my cheeks start to hurt slightly from the grin I was harboring. Already I was missing the feeling I got when I stared at Edward. I wondered what had happened, how he had changed since I had looked away from him. Unable to take it any longer, I forced my eyes to wander back over to him.

He wouldn't meet my eyes and I saw him subconsciously tighten his grip on Bella.

My smile instantly evaporated, a snarl taking its place.

Why was she touching him?

Bella's eyes widened, stepping forward in concern. "Jake? Wha—"

Her voice only made me angrier. It hardly mattered that I was her best friend, or that I used to love her five minutes ago. I hated her now because she was touching him and Edward was mine.

Edward, seeing my intense shaking and my murderous thoughts, pulled Bella back and away from me. That was all I needed—Bella out of harm's way—for me to explode into a wolf. I guess, in the back of my brain, I was still concerned for her safety.

As a wolf, everything was much clearer than before. My senses were heightened and that meant _everything_ was more intense, namely my adoration for Edward.

Seeing Bella so close to my imprint, yet again, caused me to growl viciously. It was taking everything in my power to refrain from lunging at the girl.

_Jesus, Jake,_ Paul laughed in my head.

_Yeah…what's going on? _Embry asked.

_I caught something about an imprint, _Paul told Embry.

I shouldn't have phased, I realized. I could tell Embry and Paul were the only ones in wolf form at the moment, but Paul was a blabbermouth. By sundown, everyone in the tribe would know what had just happened.

_Hey! I'm not a blabbermouth!_

_What happened, Jake?_

Unable to stand the look on Edward and Bella's faces, I ran off into the woods. It felt so wrong to walk away from Edward, but I didn't know what else to do. My chest ached harder the further I ran away from my imprint. I literally felt like I was being stabbed multiple times.

Why did I have to be soul mates to a vampire? A _male_ vampire, at that.

_What?_ Paul and Embry both gawked.

It only took Paul a second to understand my statement, and then he erupted. _This is so unbelievable! We all wanted you to get over that Bella chick, but not like this! Man, vampires are our sworn enemies!_

_It's not like I can control it,_ I hissed, but my words were halfhearted and Paul knew it.

He snorted, _I can't wait to tell Leah about this. She's gonna shit herself._

_Paul, _Embry warned. He was defending me, he still loved me like a brother, but I saw various doubts in his mind. Embry wondered if I was gay—if I had always been, and if so, if I had had a crush on him. He was curious about what would happen to Bella now that the two guys that had been in love with her were destined to be together. And he was scared for me. He was scared that Sam and the elders would do something to me because I was mated to a bloodsucker.

_What? _Paul snickered. _It's funny._

Embry ignored him and instead questioned me, _Are you sure that you imprinted on him?_

_I'm sure._

_Then you'd better go talk to Sam, _Embry advised me.

_I don't want to,_ I growled angrily. I wanted to at least gather my own thoughts on the situation before I talked to Sam. _I shouldn't have to. Even though he's Alpha, I shouldn't have to._

_Why's that? _Paul snorted. _You think you're better than the rest of us?_

_Yeah. _I'm_ the rightful Alpha, not Sam._

_Why are you bringing that up? _Embry asked._ You never cared about any of that before._

Yeah, I didn't care about a lot of things before I met Edward.

_I just don't want to have to report to Sam, _I admitted. _I want to have a few days to sort things out._

_Don't we all? _Paul thought and I got the feeling it was something he didn't mean to think. It was just sort of something that slipped out from under him.

_I…I guess we can keep quiet for a few days, right, Paul? _Embry questioned the hothead of the pack.

I listened intently, hoping to God that Paul would come through for once.

_Yeah, _Paul eventually muttered. _I'll shut up about it._

I felt my joins unstiffen, and I released a breath I didn't realize I had been holding in.

Now all I had to do was figure things out for myself…


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

Edward's point of view

A week had passed since the incident in the woods with Jacob, and Bella had suffered thoroughly each and every day out of the seven. She had cried a lot when it first happened, and then screamed in her sleep. After that first day, though, she didn't scream or cry again. She was just distant. Sad.

I didn't understand why she was so upset. I knew, of course, that Jacob was her best friend and that they had a special connection, but I had thought that she was mad at him. He had betrayed her.

When I had voiced my thoughts with Bella, she only shook her head. "It's not about the whole…" she cringed, "motorcycle thing. I don't care that he told Charlie."

"You got over it pretty fast," I commented dryly.

Bella's eyes had a cloudy look in them, and I wondered briefly if she had even heard my comment. "There's something else going on with him," she mumbled. "I'm worried."

For a while, I had tried to assure Bella that nothing was wrong with Jacob. He had freaked out and phased, sure, but that wasn't unusual for a young werewolf to do. Especially when the woman he loved was with his natural enemy. Honestly, I was surprised Jacob had lasted as long as he had without phasing.

But Bella wasn't accepting my reassurances. She kept insisting something was wrong, something was off. She could "tell".

So I stopped fighting Bella on her suspicions and instead began to listen to what she was saying. Maybe something _was_ wrong with Jacob, I realized as the time I spent listening to my Bella steadily increased.

His thoughts had been mushed together and almost panicky. They were loud, as they always were, but there was a sick amount of raw emotion in his mind. I wished Jasper had been there at the time to tell me what Jacob had been feeling, because it was starting to bother me a lot.

Jacob had also thought the word "imprint" quite frequently. I knew it was part of the Quileute legends, but I didn't know what the word meant exactly. I had been meaning to ask Carlisle about it, but the words could never reach my lips when I was around him. I would be tongue tied, and I didn't understand why.

I watched Bella as she yawned loudly, stretching her arms upward dramatically to show that she was awakened from her slumber. I found it endearing.

"Good morning," I said with a smile as I took her in. She was always beautiful, but there was something about her in the mornings…Bella just seemed so much more refreshed.

"I want to see Jacob," she replied suddenly. There was a small, confused frown on her face.

"Bella—"

"I want to see him," she repeated.

"You should give him some space," I urged quietly. I didn't know what was wrong with Jacob, and though I didn't exactly care about him, I worried for Bella's sake.

"I've given him space. A whole week's worth."

"Be reasonable," I pleaded. "I don't want you to get hurt."

Her eyes softened, but held suspicion. "He won't hurt me, Edward. You know he would never."

"I'm aware." There was doubt and jealousy in my tone.

Bella smiled to herself as she looked at her bathroom door. "Can I have a human moment?"

"Of course. I'll wait for you downstairs."

"No," she said quickly, "you should go home."

My eyes widened. "Do you want me to leave?"

She had never wanted me to go before.

"No!" Bella sounded utterly appalled. "No, of course not, Edward. I just—I don't know, I kind of want to be alone for a few hours."

I wasn't sure if Bella knew that by wanting to be alone, she was also wanting me to leave.

Off-put by my silence, Bella murmured, "I love you, Edward."

"I love you, too." The response was automatic.

She grinned. "Glad that's all cleared up."

"Yes," I said, and a beat of silence passed between the two of us before I spoke again. "Would you like for me to drive you to the border?"

Bella looked surprised. "You're willing?"

"Of course, and besides, I know that you intend to sneak away to La Push while I'm home."

She looked down, a redness tinting her cheeks.

"Hey," I murmured and tilted her chin up. Her eyes followed and then met mine. "It's alright, don't be ashamed."

Bella blushed again. "Okay, let's get going."

I released her chin and offered her a grin. "Eager as always."

She laughed and put on a coat. "Of course."

I took her hand in mine and led her to my Volvo. I opened the side door for her, and she slid in with a small, embarrassed nod of thanks. I smiled inwardly and walked over to my own side, opening the door with ease and revving the engine even quicker.

As we backed out of her driveway, Bella asked, "Do you think he's still mad at me?"

"No," I said carefully, "but he's probably still angry with me."

Bella groaned and bopped her head against the seat cushion. "Why can't you two just get along?"

Suddenly, I was overcome with agitation. She knew why we would never be civil towards each other, and yet she still wanted us to be friends, to work things out. Jacob was in love with her for God's sake!

"'I don't know," I replied, my voice tight. My grip tightened on the steering wheel.

I thought about Jacob, and how he thought of Bella, and all of it just made me want to kill something. Bella was _mine_, and I loved her. I knew that leaving her was wrong, and I regretted it with my entire being, but it was also wrong of Jacob to take advantage of her when she was low.

Hell, Jacob was still taking advantage of her. He was acting like a child by ignoring her. The only responsible thing I had ever seen Jacob do was tell Charlie that Bella had built two motorcycles with him, but that hardly counted, because it hurt Bella.

He was a cretin and an idiot, and if he didn't learn how to control his anger, he was going to hurt Bella even more, but physically this time.

"Edward," Bella said quietly, and I looked away from the road to meet her soft eyes. "You broke the steering wheel."

Alarmed, I slammed on the breaks and shot my hand out in front of Bella to make she didn't hit her head.

A simple "whoa" from Bella let me know she was okay, and I began to study the wheel in front of me. It wasn't demolished, but my hands had cut through the wheel itself, and now there were two hand-sized holes on the side of it.

"It's fine," I told her and began driving again.

"What do you mean it's fine? And why were you so mad in the first place?"

I didn't want to explain to her the many causes of my anger, but I didn't feel like lying either. I said, "Global warming."

It wasn't a lie, it did piss me off, but the particular reason hadn't been the cause of my distress this time.

"Oh, cool," Bella commented, and the small talk ended.

My thoughts crept up on me again, but I pushed them back. I didn't want to lose my temper again, I hated for Bella to see me like that.

We spent the rest of the car ride in silence, but it wasn't awkward, at least for me it wasn't. It was comfortable, and I loved it. I was glad I didn't have to talk, and I knew Bella was, too.

Slowly but surely, we arrived at the border, and anxiety tackled me from behind. I was shocked that I hadn't realized before how bad of an idea this was. What had I been thinking? Jacob was a new werewolf! He didn't have any control of his emotions—that much had been obvious from our last fight.

Bella exited the car, and I followed cautiously. I wasn't sure how to tell my girlfriend that we needed to leave.

It wasn't that I didn't trust Bella alone with Jacob, of course I knew she would never betray me like that. I just didn't trust werewolves, and Jacob, and Jacob as a werewolf.

"So do I just walk the rest of the way or what?" Bella asked me, curiosity prickling her tone

"No," I replied softly, watching the tree line. "They'll be here soon."

"They?" she questioned. "How do 'they' know we're here?"

"My scent," I said.

Bella nodded. "Right."

And sure enough, a half-naked Jacob was soon jogging towards us from the forest.

When I first saw him, I almost didn't recognize him. He looked horrible. Jacob had large bags under his eyes, and his cheeks looked sunken in. His skin was almost ashy looking, and there was a broken emotion in his eyes.

When our eyes met, though, a large smile graced his face, and his pace increased considerably.

_He's here,_ Jacob thought. _He's finally here. I can see him, and I can smell him. He's here._

To say I was confused by his thoughts would be an understatement.

When Jacob approached us, Bella exclaimed, "Jake! I'm sorry we fought. Are you still mad?"

He wasn't looking at her. Honestly, I wasn't sure if Jacob even knew she existed. He only had eyes for me, and it was beginning to freak me out.

"Edward…" Jacob said quietly, his eyes filled with awe.

"Jacob, you look terrible!" Bella said. "What happened?"

_She's embarrassing me in front of him. _And I wasn't sure how, but Jacob's thoughts sounded angry.

His head jerked so quickly to the right I was surprised his neck hadn't snapped. He faced Bella and quaked a little. "I look terrible?" His face contorted for a second, taking a more animalistic form.

I put a hand on Bella's shoulder and brought her closer to me. I gave Jacob a glare. "You shouldn't get so close to her when you're in danger of phasing."

His eyes met mine again, and he looked sad. No, Jacob looked miserable.

_I wish I could tell him. We could be so happy_, he thought.

Jacob turned away from the two of us and faced the woods, his back muscles expanding slightly. "You should go," he managed to growl out.

_This is killing me. It hurts so much. _And there went Jacob's thoughts, being vague as always.

"But Jacob—" Bella extended an arm out to him. Her voice sounded so broken, so torn. I only wanted to make her happy again.

"Go!" he snapped and ran off into the forest. He didn't make it to the shady trees before he shifted, though. He became a wolf right in front of mine and Bella's eyes.

It didn't shock me, I had been expecting it, but Bella let out a gasp. I tightened my arms around her stomach as I waited for Jacob's scent to disappear before I got back in the car.

When I was sure he was gone, we left.

But I had to admit, something felt wrong inside of me as I drove further and further away from the border.


End file.
